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For the 50-mile commute, my fitness would be amazing. Moving closer would be maybe 30k in up front taxes and expenses and it's a HCoL area, so, now, it's proba

For the 50-mile commute, my fitness would be amazing. Moving closer would be maybe 30k in up front taxes and expenses and it's a HCoL area, so, now, it's probably at least another 100k in mortgage interest, even if I hammer the repayments at double my current monthly outgoings. The train also takes 2 hours each way, plus 20 minutes walking.

matsemann 3y ago
Why should everyone bear the consequences of you living extremely remotely? By consequences I mean support costs of roads, congestion in the city by people outside driving in, noise, pollution, huge amount of area being wasted etc.
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago
  Why should I have to pay a huge amount of stamp duty tax to move closer to work[1]? Why should I get punished by a huge mortgage to do so because of a dysfunctional housing market[2]? For that matter, and actually I don't really think this one, I pay taxes willingly build this stuff, why should I pay for central-city public transport when I don't even commute from or to a central urban area[3]? Anyone can say things like that. If move if I could, and originally planned to when I took the job. I can't afford it now. I'd cycle if I could (and I used to, for years, at a different job, over 20 miles a day). I'd take public transport if I could. In fact, a promised train timetable cadence increase factored into moving into where I live now. It was quietly cancelled years ago. [1]: while I think stamp duty is a regressive tax that also prevents labour mobility and is in general a bad idea, it's especially bad when combined with inflating house prices (price to earnings ratio is now the highest in recorded history) that push everything around into higher bands. [2]: I actually don't really think the current interest rates themselves are necessarily bad, there are benefits to higher rates. But housing being so incredibly expensive makes such rates punishing. 6% on 100k is one thing. 6% on 250k is very different. [3]: funnily enough, though my current commute passes only a couple of miles of suburbs and the rest of it is motorway ending in an extra-urban business park, the public transport option involves trains going directly through urban cores of two cities and past rather a lot more houses. In fact, a different rail line goes within 100m of me: so why do I need to listen to those commuters? (Again, I don't actually think this).
hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago
I know many people do it out of necessity or desire to live in a certain place, but commuting that long would be a last resort for me. It turns an 8 hour day into a 10 hour day. You don't get paid for the time and it costs more in fuel and wear and tear on the car. When comparing salaries, I always factored in the duration and cost of the commute. Jobs that were further away that paid a little more turned out not to be worth the extra pay when I took these factors into consideration.
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago
  Well, I don't really want to live here specifically, and planned to move, but cost-of-living, the general housing situation and mortgage rates don't leave many options at the moment! Wear on the car is real and annoying, but it's still no more expensive than the train would be (and much faster). Funnily enough, working from home here and there isn't always cheaper by train: they ding you 40% of the weekly ticket price and nearly 60% of the monthly if you want a carnet of tickets (which expire within about 6 weeks). Season tickets also don't include some routes.

matsemann 3y ago

Why should everyone bear the consequences of you living extremely remotely? By consequences I mean support costs of roads, congestion in the city by people outside driving in, noise, pollution, huge amount of area being wasted etc.

adhesive_wombat 3y ago
Why should I have to pay a huge amount of stamp duty tax to move closer to work[1]? Why should I get punished by a huge mortgage to do so because of a dysfunctional housing market[2]? For that matter, and actually I don't really think this one, I pay taxes willingly build this stuff, why should I pay for central-city public transport when I don't even commute from or to a central urban area[3]? Anyone can say things like that. If move if I could, and originally planned to when I took the job. I can't afford it now. I'd cycle if I could (and I used to, for years, at a different job, over 20 miles a day). I'd take public transport if I could. In fact, a promised train timetable cadence increase factored into moving into where I live now. It was quietly cancelled years ago. [1]: while I think stamp duty is a regressive tax that also prevents labour mobility and is in general a bad idea, it's especially bad when combined with inflating house prices (price to earnings ratio is now the highest in recorded history) that push everything around into higher bands. [2]: I actually don't really think the current interest rates themselves are necessarily bad, there are benefits to higher rates. But housing being so incredibly expensive makes such rates punishing. 6% on 100k is one thing. 6% on 250k is very different. [3]: funnily enough, though my current commute passes only a couple of miles of suburbs and the rest of it is motorway ending in an extra-urban business park, the public transport option involves trains going directly through urban cores of two cities and past rather a lot more houses. In fact, a different rail line goes within 100m of me: so why do I need to listen to those commuters? (Again, I don't actually think this).

hahamrfunnyguy 3y ago

I know many people do it out of necessity or desire to live in a certain place, but commuting that long would be a last resort for me. It turns an 8 hour day into a 10 hour day. You don't get paid for the time and it costs more in fuel and wear and tear on the car. When comparing salaries, I always factored in the duration and cost of the commute. Jobs that were further away that paid a little more turned out not to be worth the extra pay when I took these factors into consideration.

adhesive_wombat 3y ago
Well, I don't really want to live here specifically, and planned to move, but cost-of-living, the general housing situation and mortgage rates don't leave many options at the moment! Wear on the car is real and annoying, but it's still no more expensive than the train would be (and much faster). Funnily enough, working from home here and there isn't always cheaper by train: they ding you 40% of the weekly ticket price and nearly 60% of the monthly if you want a carnet of tickets (which expire within about 6 weeks). Season tickets also don't include some routes.